Auburn, Ala.- Auburn track & field junior Ryan Kinnane earned his first career bid to NCAA Cross Country Championships with a seventh-place finish at the South Regional.
The first four finishers from non-automatic qualifying or at-large teams secure an automatic-bid to the championships. Kinnane secured the fourth and final spot.
"Ryan has been our leader all season long," Tigers distance coach Aaron Kindt said. "Each and every week that we've lined up, he has gone toe-to-toe with the very best."
Kinnane completed the 10k race at the John Hunt Cross Country Course in a new personal-best time of 29:33.2. He improved his mark of 30:33.2 set at the 2021 NCAA South Regional, where he finished 23rd overall.
"Ryan ran his most complete race this past weekend and left no doubt he was worthy of a spot at the National Championship," Kindt said.
Kinnane has already been named to the 2022 USTFCCCA All-Region Team and was recently voted the 2022 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well as Second Team All-SEC.
"Looking forward to another week of practice and the opportunity he has in front of him next weekend," Kindt said.
The 2022 NCAA Cross Country National Championship will be held at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Okla. Saturday, November 19 with the men's 10k set to kickstart at 10:20 a.m. CT.